Known straightening or alignment benches normally comprise an elongated raisable and lowerable beam-frame which is narrower than the distance between the wheels of the respective vehicle wheel pairs, so the beam-frame can be inserted beneath the damaged vehicle and secured firmly thereto with the aid of a number of attachment devices, such as chassis clamps.
There are many instances, however, when it is desirable to be able to roll the vehicle on its wheels onto the straightening bench. It has previously been proposed to replace the conventional frame in such straightening benches with a platform having a width enabling the vehicle to rest with its wheels located on the platform. The platform can either be made pivotable, so as to enable the vehicle to be driven thereon or may be provided with inclined drive-on ramps at one end for the same purpose.
The drawback with such chassis straightening benches is that the broad platform requires a large amount of space and does not permit the same ease of access to the vehicle chassis as an alignment bench with a narrow frame.